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Brighten up your table with this colorful Strawberry Salad featuring fresh strawberries, crisp lettuce, bacon and a creamy poppy seed dressing. This perfect summer salad is a crowd pleaser that’s easy to make and packed with flavor. Or try this fun variation: Strawberry Avocado Salad with Poppyseed Dressing!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
This Strawberry Salad! Oh boy, it’s one of my favorite salads ever! So tangy and so so good! It is so incredible and can make you forget all your cares in the world. Bacon-salty. Strawberries-sweet. Almonds-crunchy. Dressing-creamy. Everything eaten together-priceless. Super simple and super delicious!
Ingredients Needed For Strawberry Salad
There are two parts to this Strawberry Salad, the salad and the homemade poppy seed dressing. For the best salad, be sure to use fresh ingredients where you can. Here are all of the ingredients you’ll need for both:
For the Stawberry Salad
- Sweet Strawberries – our star of the show! Make sure you grab some fresh and juicy strawberries and slice those babies up.
- Bacon – cooked and crumbled. Try making bacon in the oven! It’s a life-saver.
- Candied Almonds – Buy these from the store OR make your own homemade which is what I did for this recipe. (They’re easier to make than you think!)
- Lettuce – this is a strawberry salad so you’re going to need lettuce! Baby spinach is also a popular choice, or use any leafy greens you have on hand.
For the Poppy Seed Dressing Recipe
- Mayonnaise – real mayo works best here.
- White Vinegar – a nice acidic flavor in comparison to the sweetness of the strawberries. If your strawberries aren’t as ripe (therefore not as sweet) use less of this.
- Sugar – to balance out the other flavors.
- Salt and Black Pepper – season to taste!
- Poppy Seeds – this wouldn’t be a poppy seed dressing without poppy seeds!
Variations
- Feta Cheese: Crumble feta over the salad for a tangy kick and great addition.
- Mandarin Oranges: Add for a burst of citrusy sweetness.
- Red Onion: Thinly sliced onion for a bit of bite.
- Goat Cheese: Use instead of feta for a creamier texture.
- Grilled Chicken: Make it a full meal by adding grilled chicken.
How to Make Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Guys when I said this Strawberry Salad was easy, I meant it. For full recipe details, including ingredient measurements, see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is step by step how to make this strawberry salad:
1. Prep Salad Ingredients
Rinse your lettuce in cold water. Then, tear into bite-sized pieces, dry and pour into a large bowl. You can buy a clamshell of ready made lettuce for ease OR use a salad spinner. Top with sliced strawberries, candied almonds and cooked bacon.
2. Make Dressing + Serve
To make the sweet poppy seed dressing, pour all ingredients (mayo, vinegar, sugar, poppy seeds, S+P) into a small bowl and whisk. Drizzle salad generously with poppy seed dressing and serve immediately.
Storage + Make Ahead Directions
Sadly, I wouldn’t recommend keeping any leftover strawberry salad. I mean you totally can, but the longer it sits, the more limp and soggy the lettuce gets, so it wouldn’t be quite the same. Definitely not one you could freeze either. If you do need to save any leftovers, store in a sealed container with a tight-fitting lid.
To Make Ahead: I would add lettuce and strawberries to my serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. Keep almonds and bacon in baggies along with the salad in the fridge. Make the dressing and keep in a small airtight container in the fridge. When you are ready to serve, top the salad with almonds and bacon, then drizzle with dressing and serve.
More Fruit Filled Salads to Try!
If you love this strawberry salad, then you need to try these other flavorful salads with homemade salad dressings! They’re all great as a main dish, side dish or mid-day snack!
This strawberry salad with creamy poppy seed dressing is the perfect addition to your summer salads collection. With fresh strawberries, crunchy bacon, and a delicious poppy seed dressing, it’s a healthy and tasty lunch option. The printable recipe card is down below! Enjoy, friends!! Have a fabulous food filled day!
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
- 4 oz lettuce or spinach, whatever type you prefer
- ½ pint strawberries fresh, about 8 strawberries, depending on size
- ⅓ cup bacon crumbled
- ¼ cup candied almonds
for the poppyseed dressing-
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or white distilled
- ½ teaspoon poppy seeds
- salt & black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place washed and dried lettuce (or spinach) into a large bowl.
- Wash, hull and slice strawberries and add them to the bowl with the lettuce.
- Top with crumbled bacon and candied almonds.
- Whisk all ingredients for dressing together in a bowl until smooth.
- Drizzle dressing over salad and serve.
This was very tasty. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
I find you delightful. Just sayin.
[…] Image via Lauren’s Latest […]
I have a question about the yogurt, because I HATE greek yogurt… so can I simply substitute the greek yogurt for plain old regular yogurt, or do I need to make modifications to the other ingredients as well?
(P.S. Getting a GA license is ridiculous, I know a lady who spent 9 months trying to get one so that she could register her car… 9 months of “riding dirty!”
Thanks…
regular yogurt will be fine.
[…] Strawberry Bacon Salad with Greek Yogurt Poppy Seed Dressing […]
[…] Strawberry, Bacon Salad with a greek yogurt poppyseed dressing […]
Love this recipe/salad. The dressing is even good on other things. Thanks. I have written more but the flashing of the ad., is giving me a migraine.
It was delish! Only thing I will change next time is not so much vinegar. Maybe if the strawberries were riper and sweeter it would have been not so tart. Maybe I will try to see if there is a strawberry vinegar or similar to see if that works better for my family. 🙂
This looks yummy!
I don’t care for mayo, would it work to sub all greek yogurt or sour cream for the mayo?
Sure! It would just be extra tangy 🙂
Lauren, thanks so much for this poppy seed dressing recipe. I just made it and love it, I like the Greek yogurt in there too. I will be using this dressing often now. If I use it on my blog I’ll give you the ping back thx 🙂
[…] recipe for this Strawberry Bacon Salad with Greek Yogurt Poppyseed Dressing comes from Lauren’s Latest. I found it on Pinterest and its actually the first thing I ever pinned. I have been meaning to try […]
[…] fresh and flavorful recipe. The brainchild and inspiration for this dish is Lauren, on her blog Lauren’s Latest. Although I did tweak her dish a bit, the essence of the flavors remains the […]
[…] browsing through some salad recipes on Pinterest and found one I knew I had to try. It comes from Lauren’s Latest and has lots of yummy ingredients! Lauren’s recipe called for a Homemade Poppyseed Dressing […]
I make a similar salad but with green onion and crumbled heath bars. Sounds a little strange until you try it, but its AMAZING!!
[…] Four: Strawberry Bacon Salad with Greek Yogurt Poppyseed Dressing: Click here for […]
[…] see my Strawberry Bacon Salad with Greek Yogurt Poppyseed Dressing. You will thank […]
I just had to take a test to get a Utah license and luckily, it was open book. It still sucked because I only had 20 minutes to take it before they closed. Thanks for the dressing recipe. I’m trying to avoid eating canola and soybean oils, so this is a perfect recipe for me.
[…] held onto this beautiful, vibrant salad inspiration from my blogging pal, Lauren, from Lauren’s Latest for several months, thinking it would be perfect for springtime, specifically for the Easter […]
I did the quiz, totally failed! A lot of it was me not understanding what the @#$% they were talking about, and with only 10 questions, 1 wrong answer is a big deal!!
I made this salad today for a church potluck – everyone loved it! You’ve got the salty, sweet, and tangy flavors going on, and the different textures. This is definitely a keeper! To save time, I used a large bag of spring greens mixture, and it was so pretty,
[…] be….but I am a Greek yogurt lover! So I gave it a shot! You can find the original recipe at Laura’s site . It’s a pretty basic recipe. Let me tell you, it was different than our own regular ho hum […]
Sounds delish.
BTW I just failed the test–and I just passed the CA test after moving here from MD!!
I got only 70%…oops! That is one weird test. lol…Yummy recipe!
[…] The longest title in this week’s recipe roundup is pretty much self-explanatory: strawberry bacon salad with Greek yogurt poppyseed dressing. See what I mean? I just say the name, and right away, you know you’ve got to try it. (Lauren’s Latest) […]
This looks great Lauren. Pinning…
What a variety of flavors!
Yeah, I’ll buy your book just for the journaling/posts. Oh, the salad looks great too. BTW, how can I get your posts at my new email address?
I failed my first written test for an Oregon driver’s license too! Shocked me as I’ve been driving for umpteen million years (it seems). Thought the questions were worded to fail as they included choices that applied to similar situations. Did what you did, I studied and passed my test yesterday, only missing one (who knew those tractor things could go as fast as 25 mph?). Funny thing was the questions for my retesting seemed much simpler…go figure. Congratulations Lauren 🙂 The salad sounds and looks fabulous!
I failed. Miserably. Not even close. What a joke. I’m never moving states again, just in case the state we move to requires a written test.
Salad looks fantastic!
Strawberry and bacon in a salad pretty much means it’s a perfect salad 🙂
P.s. I have NEVER had a good experience at the DMV so I feel ya… the last time I went there I left crying. The last 2 times, actually. Who knew changing my last name after a marriage was virtually IMPOSSIBLE?! Didn’t help that I had the rudest lady to ever walk the planet “helping” me….Ok, done with my rant 🙂
You had me at bacon.
Thank you for sharing the DMV test. We just had a teenager take the Washington test so thankfully the questions were really similar to ours.
Wow this is definitely my kind of salad!
The serving portion should say 1 because I’d eat the entire thang! Right-o I would!
I took the test…hate the left-turn-into-one-way-street question! I can’t wait to make this salad 🙂
Failed the quiz by one question! Must go find bacon to soothe my ego… “/
I am with you on the DMV! Us Canadians will have trouble with US tests because everything is in different measurements! How many feet can you park from a fire hydrant, what speed to you drive in a residential area if there is no speed posted, etc. I was like “can I answer in meters and km?” HA!
Great recipe 🙂
I know right? At first when I got to the states, I thought it was so dumb, but now I’m used to it all….unfortunately.
Hhahaha god, I hate the DMV, but I LOATHE the library even more! My library is SO rude. I STILL don’t have a card because each time I come in with the stuff they claimed I needed last time, they need something else. I’m like DAAAYMN son, who cares?! I’m renting Pretty Little Liars. Am I really a threat? WTH, yo. BTW, this salad is amazeballs.
I totally failed the quiz…… 🙂
Yup, took me 3 visits to the DMV to get mine, sheesh!! And they didn’t tell me about the skip button either. Salad looks super yummy!
The salad looks delicious but I had to comment on the DMV!
I moved to Portland two years ago and had the exact same experience…I too failed the first go round by one question (“if you are on a country road and a man on a horse raises his right hand, what does that mean?” ummm, howdy?) and I KNOW I was not told about the skip button. The second go around I used that skip button and made sure everyone around me knew about that skip button! It probably didn’t hurt that I had read the entire handbook from front to back just to be on the safe side 🙂
Glad you are finally an OR license carrying resident! We need to stick together!
GOOD MERCY! I’m making this immediately. And I’m totally not kidding. Three of my absolute favorites in one salad. Pure genius lady.
Ooh, awesome! 🙂 Hope you like it!
Oh, Lauren! I’ve had so much trouble with the DMV too! I can’t prove I live in Kansas because all bills are in my spouse’s name. It’s so frustrating!
FOUR tablespoons of sugar???? EEK! 🙂 x
It makes a lot of dressing! And all that sugar counteracts the tanginess of the yogurt. If you use all mayonnaise, reduce the sugar by 1 tablespoon.
Why comment “EEK!”….are you too perfect to add that much sugar to your dressing that makes so much!!
What is it with libraries? I had to present all kinds of proof, too, but didn’t have my voter’s registration with me. So the librarian asked me the name of my county commissioner – couldn’t do that, but I knew the precinct number, so she let me have the card. Sheesh, By the way, what really attracted me to this recipe is the dressing – it sounds great! I think I’ll give this salad a try this weekend. 🙂
This looks fabulous! I love strawberries in my salads.
Salad with bacon? You had me at bacon!
Also, Oregon state allows you to make a left turn at a red light if traffic permits?? (I took the test, haha)
Left turn if traffic permits onto a one-way street. LAME.
When I moved to NJ I had to re-take the written portion of the test and totally failed too.
Oh well.
This salad looks like it could help my wounded heart 🙂
That looks amazing! Perfect for a get together with friends!
Strawberries and bacon? Amazing!